Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Food Review: Gardein Pocket Meals

Gardein Pocket Meals in Italian Meatless Sausage

with Roasted Red Peppers and Spinach

The Gardein Pocket Meals debuted recently, and I picked some up at Whole Foods in early February. They are shaped like little buns (or dinner rolls, as described on the package) and stuffed full of delicious vegan ingredients. The varieties I picked up were the Italian Meatless Sausage with Roasted Red Peppers and Spinach and the BBQ Pulled Porkless Shreds. These are convenience meals, so don't expect them to be too healthy, however they pack between 6 to 10 grams of protein, and do not contain genetically modified soy, wheat, or canola.

Gardein Pocket Meals in Italian Meatless Sausage

with Roasted Red Peppers and Spinach

Despite the front of the package saying they can be "ready in 2 minutes", the recommended cooking time is in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. Not exactly the most fast or convenient, but it wasn't the biggest deal to me. I popped mine in a toaster oven for about 25 minutes and they came out beautifully, and made the house smell pretty great as well!

I was happy to see that the insides contained a hearty serving of fillings. The Italian variety was really flavorful and the veggies tasted pretty fresh for it being a frozen food. My only complaint about the Italian one is that it didn't really contain much "sausage". Still, I enjoyed it and would purchase again.

Gardein Pocket Meals in BBQ Pulled Porkless Shreds

However, my favorite was the BBQ Porkless Shreds. I looooove BBQ sauce, so it's no wonder I preferred this one over the Italian flavor! The BBQ sauce was perfectly tangy, and the texture of the porkless shreds was spot-on. It was lip-smackin' good and I could have eaten five more.

Gardein Pocket Meals in BBQ Pulled Porkless Shreds

The bun that contained the fillings held up really nicely - it never got soggy, despite all the fillings and sauces, was crisp and flaky on the outside, soft on the inside, plus it tasted great! It also wasn't too thick or too thin, but was the perfect amount of bread that held everything together and added some extra flavor and texture to boot!

There is one more flavor of the Gardein pockets out there, Crispy Chick’n Stuffed with Kale, Barley, and Sun-Dried Tomato, but I didn't see it when I picked up the other two flavors. Hopefully I spot that one soon so I can try it!

Each box contains four pockets, and I had to restrain myself from eating the whole box in one sitting! They remind me a lot of the Tofurky Pockets that came out last year, only smaller. They are nice to have on hand for those days after work where I need a hearty snack or times when I just want to pop something in the oven for a quick meal. They would work wonderfully as a to-go meal as well for someone on the go!

3 comments:

I'm so glad that companies are coming out with more and more vegan or vegetarian meals and snacks for people on-the-go. This makes it much easier to stick with a meatless diet. By the way, I just tried the Gardein fishless filets over the weekend after seeing it on your blog a little bit ago. I made some delicious fish tacos with them. They were very convincing!

I have to agree, I LOVE the porkless pockets. They taste, smell and feel like the real deal. My only concern is they do list an ingredient "methylcellulose" which I looked up and it is used as a laxative. I haven't had any problems with eating these pockets, but it is something to be aware of.